International Impromptu Art Exchange

Hopefully the dream box above has safely arrived in Canada by now, also making it safe to post my pictures here on the blog without spoiling the surprise for recipient Heather Robinson of Creative Solace.

I have admired Heather's work for some time, first spotting her during Technique Tuesdays, a former challenge blog, co-sponsored by Heather and Suzan Buckner, whose crazy zetti-style art I also love. Then I ran into Heather as a design team member for Indy (not Indie, well, yes, indie, too) artist Kris Hubick, and IRL friend who runs Retro Cafe Art, the Web site and blog.

Recently, Heather posted a darling ATC on her blog, and I wrote to her to propose a swap. She responded with the suggestion of an altered art assemblage swap, which I gladly accepted.

Heather mentioned she had been doing some altered tins. You can see them on her blog here, as well as a nature-themed piece here. Heather is good at updating her blog almost daily, which is tre's fun for her followers.

It's ironic that the tin 'dream box' or nicho I altered for her, came to me from Canada, having been ordered from another favorite supplier, ArtChix Studio. However, the nicho was hecho in Mexico originally.

I used a gazillion little products to 'art it up.' The paper wings are from Retro Cafe Art, the background is a postcard from Bluhm Studios, the mini eggs, leaf mask and tiny bottle with decorative stopper are from Altered Abbey, the green 'seeds' are from ArtChix, the reeds and corrugated paper are from Random Arts in Saluda, NC., the mushroom is from Paula's Kit Club and the egg-print paper on the back as well as other paper scraps are from Character Constructions.

Nothing like having to link to practically everyone I know! But it's always important to give credit where one gets supplies, and also readers will ask, where did you find that thingamajig? The swap gave me a chance to use various bits and pieces from two years of accumulations. The dream box was one of the first things I ever bought, and the piece of lace on the bottom I received early on in a swap and immediately thought it belonged on the dream box. Some months later, the tiny bottle, stopper and seeds arrived separately and seemed to go together. So I filled the bottle, plugged it with the little topper, stuck them in the lace-embellished dream box, and there they sat for over a year, until it seemed just the right thing to use for this swap.

I hope Heather agrees. Mail sent at the same time as her package has already arrived in both Belgium (a swap with ATheeC on Flickr) and Oregon ( 1:1 swap with Michelle Geller of Hold Dear), so Canada can't be far behind.